THE
LUMINARY
UNIVERSIT Y OF MALTA ALUMNI NEWSLET TER
www.um.edu.mt/alumni
APRIL 2014
Annual
Accountancy
Awards
The Department of Accountancy,
Faculty of Economics, Management
and Accountancy recently held
this year’s presentation of awards
to the Bachelor of Accountancy
(Hons) 2011/2013 graduate group.
In his introductory speech, the
Head of Department, Mr Peter J.
Baldacchino, outlined the various
departmental developments over
the past year and spoke about
recent advances in research trends.
He also thanked all the sponsors for
making the activity possible. Visiting
lecturer Dr Andrew Higson of
Loughborough University Business
School then spoke of his experience
as external examiner.
Fifteen different awards and one
journal sponsorship were announced
by the Dean of FEMA, Professor
Joseph Falzon. Award winners
were congratulated by Pro Rector
Professor Joe Friggieri and then
presented awards by the following
sponsors: the Malta Institute
of Accountants, the Institute of
Chartered Accountants in England
and Wales, the Chartered Institute
of Management Accountants, the
National Audit Office, the Central
Co-operative Fund, and seven
international accountancy firms.
Each award winner presented a
copy of the study to the sponsor.
The Malta Institute of Accountants
Best Student of the Year Prize was
awarded by the President of the
Malta Institute of Accountants Ms
Maria Micallef to Mr Daniel Pule’,
who spoke about his experience
in the professional accountancy
course.
The Institute of Chartered
Accountants in England and
Wales (ICAEW) prize for the best
dissertation was awarded to Ms
Margaret Magro for her dissertation
‘The Relationship between the
Executive Secretary and the Local
Government Auditors in Maltese
Local Councils’.
This year’s CIMA prize was
awarded to Ms Annabel Bonavia
for her dissertation ‘The Application
and Relevance of Sustainability
Management
Accounting,
Sustainability
Reporting
and
Assurance in the Local Market: An
Investigative Study’.
Ms Nadya Buhagiar won the
Deloitte prize for best dissertation
in Taxation ‘The Effects of Tax
Management
on
Corporate
Governance in Maltese Listed
Companies-An
Analysis’.
The
other Deloitte prize, that for best
dissertation in the Professional
Issues in Accountancy, was won by
Mr Justin Borg for his dissertation
‘The Development of Audit Fees in
Malta: An Analysis’.
This year, EY again awarded
two prizes, one on Accounting
Standards and one on Information
Technology. The former was won by
Mr James Psaila for his dissertation
‘The Valuation of Property in Malta:
Practical Implications of Applying
IAS 40 – Investment Property’; the
Information Technology Award was
won by Mr Matthew Caruana for his
dissertation ‘A Post-implementation
Analysis of ERP systems in Maltese
Companies’.
The Grant Thornton prize for
Law related to Accounting was
awarded to Ms Natasha Bugeja
for her dissertation ‘Article 5 of
the OECD model: The Concept of
Permanent Establishment with
Special Reference to Malta’s Double
Tax Treaties’.
The KPMG Financial Accounting
prize was won by Ms Daniela Marie
DeBono for her dissertation ‘Shifting
from the Incurred Loss Model to the
Expected Credit Loss Model: An
Impact Analysis on Listed Maltese
Banks’. The other KPMG prize was in
Internal Auditing and CONT>
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Control, this was jointly awarded to both Ms Kristina
Caligari for her dissertation ‘Barriers to Maltese Internal
Audit Units and their work: An Analysis of Public
Limited Liability Companies’ and Mr Bernard Zerafa for
his dissertation ‘Controls at Point of Sale Systems in
Selected Maltese Restaurants’.
The RSM Malta prize in Finance was also a joint
award to both Ms Josianne Abela for her dissertation
‘The Management of Working Capital in Maltese Cooperatives: An Evaluation’ and Mr Steve Gruppetta for
his dissertation ‘Developing a Valuation Framework for
an Illiquid Security’.
The External Auditing prize sponsored by
PricewaterhouseCoopers was jointly awarded to both
Ms Rosalene Caruana whose dissertation was ‘The
Significance of Selected Behavioural Factors in ClientInitiated Auditor Changes’ and to Ms Loraine Grech for
her dissertation ‘An Analysis of Audit Report Lags in
Maltese Companies’.
The other PWC prize was in Corporate Governance
and was won by Mr David Muscat for his dissertation
‘Separation of Ownership and Control in Non-Bank
Maltese Listed Companies: An Analysis’.
The Co-operative Societies prize sponsored by the
Central Co-operative Fund, was awarded to Ms Daniela
Burlo’ for her dissertation ‘Co-operative or Limited
Liability Company? A Comparative Analysis in a Maltese
Setting’.
Finally, the National Audit Office Public Sector
Accounting and Auditing prize was won by Ms Deborah
Abela for her study on ‘Public-Private Partnerships
in Maltese Healthcare: An Evaluation of the Financial
Aspects’.
Mr Karl Cini, Partner of Nexia BT, presented the
Department of Accountancy, for the second year,
with a journal sponsorship in Financial Accountability
and Management for use in public sector accounting
studies.
Five of the award winners Ms Daniela Burlo’, Mr
James Psaila, Mr Justin Borg, Ms Margaret Magro and
Mr Daniel Pule’ also presented an interesting synopsis
of their studies to the audience present.
Following the presentation of awards, Pro-Rector,
Professor Joe Friggieri spoke about the significance of
the occasion.
Presentation of Albert M. Cassola Papers to the University Library
On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Albert M.
Cassola’s death, his only son, Professor Arnold Cassola,
donated his father’s papers to the University of Malta
Library. These consist mainly of newspapers cuttings
from 1929 onwards, the publications Europe-wide
authored by Albert M. Cassola and various handwritten
or typewritten texts.
Albert M. Cassola was born in 1915 and died in 1974.
Next year will be the 100th anniversary of his birth.
Cassola was a playwright, novelist, poet, translator and
the writer of many song lyrics as well. His songs are
still broadcast today. His works have been published
in various languages. He was awarded the ‘Cavaliere
Ufficiale al merito della Repubblica Italiana’ by the
Italian President Giuseppe Saragat. For many years he
was a teacher of Italian and Maltese at The Lyceum,
Hamrun, and he is remembered by many of his former
students as a ‘true gentleman’.
A bust of Albert M. Cassola, the work of Chev.
Emanuel Borg Gauci, sculpted in 1947, was also donated
to the University.
During the event, Dr Bernard Micallef, Head of
Department, spoke about the Department of Maltese.
In his address, Professor Oliver Friggieri described
Albert M. Cassola the writer, while Professor Arnold
Cassola spoke about his father Albert M. Cassola, the
person. Mr Kevin Ellul, Director of Library Services,
thanked Professor Cassola for the important donation
to the University Library.
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2nd International Workshop
on Biometrics and Forensics
More than 80 participants from 30 different Countries
attended IWBF 2014 held at the University of Malta
Valletta Campus at the end of March which was opened
by the Commissioner of Police.
It was organised by the European Co-operation
in Science and Technology (COST) Action IC1106
‘Integrating Biometrics and Forensics for the Digital
Age’ and the International Association for Pattern
Recognition (IAPR) in collaboration with the Malta
Council for Science and Technology, the University of
Malta and the Malta Police Force.
The workshop was co-sponsored by the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), International
Association of Pattern Recognition (IAPR), Institution
of Engineering and Technology (IET), European
Association for Signal Processing (EURASIP) and
European Association for Biometrics (EAB).
Sessions included Forensic Fingerprint Identification,
Biometric Analysis of Crime Scene traces and their
interpretation including palmprints, Audio Biometrics
for Forensic Examination including speaker recognition
and Physical Biometrics for Forensic Examination
including iris recognition and gait. Keynote speakers included: Prof. Sargur Srihari
(University at Buffalo) who discussed the quantification
of uncertainty in forensic identification of fingerprints
and hand written documents; Prof. Joaquin GonzalezRodriguez (Universidad Autonoma de Madrid) who
gave an overview of the NIST series of speaker
recognition evaluations and technologies; and Prof.
Didier Meuwly (Netherlands Forensic Institute) who
discussed validation of computer assisted methods
for forensic evaluation of biometric traces; Dr Andrzej
Drygajlo (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne)
who spoke about the ENFSI 2011 Monopoly Program:
Improving Forensic Methodologies Across Europe
(IFMAE).
A panel session ‘Biometric Evidence Today and
Tomorrow’ was chaired by Dr Andrzej Drygajlo. A
poster session included posters about facial imaging
and recognition, ear pattern detection and biometric
applications. The workshop provided an international
forum to develop synergies between biometrics and
forensic science.
Malta-based game research comes first
in European funding proposals
A University of Malta research project was recently
ranked first from over one thousand EU research
proposals from all disciplines in the Marie Curie strand
of the EU’s FP7 programme. The AutoGameDesign
project, directed by Prof. Georgios N. Yannakakis of
the Institute of Digital Games, aims to investigate how
machines can automatically design complete playable
games that are novel and surprising to humans. The
project will also investigate the relationship between
human and computational creativity, placing Malta in a
prominent position on the world map of research into
computational creativity.
Transmedia Storytelling leads to
International Markets
People of all ages like to tell stories and to have stories told to them. Evenings on Campus is again exploring this world of the storyteller by organising the 2nd
Transmedia Storytelling Competition. Participants are
invited to write a story, which will then develop into
multiple storylines according to the various media platforms used. An information meeting is being held on
Friday, 25 April at 1700hrs at (Gateway Building Hall A).
More about the Transmedia Project may be found on
Facebook, Evenings on Campus page. Submissions are
to be handed in by noon on Friday 1 August, 2014 to:
Room 133, Administration Building, University of Malta,
Msida Campus.
This newletter is published by the Communications and Alumni
Relations Office within the University of Malta.
All Rights Reserved 2014